It’s so safe, so easy to let your dreams live in a secret world of fantasy where you call all the shots. There’s no risk, just a happy place to go when things are bleak.

What if this thing you’re passionate about, this thing that lights you up like fireworks on the fourth of July is everything you think it will be? But maybe you’re like me and you’re stuck on knowing how to put the pieces together.

The summer of 2019 I got fired.

Ok, ok—fired is a bit intense, but they decided to “take their photography in house” so yeah, umm...basically I was out of work. Goodbye trip to Europe, hello clipping coupons to buy house cleaners. (For reals, going from $2500 a month to less than $1000 with 4 kids, unexpected expenses, and credit card debt was rough.)

I literally had no more excuses to avoid chasing my dream as a food photographer. I started researching everything I could about food photography, but at the time there wasn’t anything that put it all together—or even a large portion of information in one place.

I would learn a random trick about linens on so-and-so’s blog and I would find how to make a backdrop on a late-night IG live I stumbled across, but they were all just pieces to a giant puzzle that I didn’t know how to put together, and just ask my husband I hate putting puzzles together. Unless they’re 100 pieces and can be done in less than an hour.

Ok, ok—fired is a bit intense, but they decided to “take their photography in house” so yeah, umm...basically I was out of work. Goodbye trip to Europe, hello clipping coupons to buy house cleaners. (For reals, going from $2500 a month to less than $1000 with 4 kids, unexpected expenses, and credit card debt was rough.)

I literally had no more excuses to avoid chasing my dream as a food photographer. I started researching everything I could about food photography, but there wasn’t anything that put it all together—or even a large portion of information in one place.

I would learn a random trick about linens on so-and-so’s blog and I would find how to make a backdrop on a late-night IG live I stumbled across, but they were all just pieces to a giant puzzle that I didn’t know how to put together, and just ask my husband I hate putting puzzles together. Unless they’re 100 pieces and can be done in less than an half an hour.

Fast forward a lot of late nights, ruined cupcakes, and wasted money on useless props, to right now.

I finally figured what worked. Pieces started clicking and slowly—very slowly—I started to see traction. I was consistently booking clients, and old ones were coming back for seconds and thirds! We paid off our credit cards,  and I was actually making a profit.

I don’t want you to painfully piece together what took me years to figure out. I put this guide together just for you. It’s the steps I took to go from $0 to $40k in 4 hours a week. It’s the shortcut to jumpstart your dreams, so you can start right now. 

It’s exactly what I wish I had when I was trying to make my dreams a reality. Are you ready to make the leap from your comfort zone? I know it’s easy living in our secret world of ‘what if’ but are you ready to see what happens when you just go for it? 

I cover everything from workflow to tips on how to build your portfolio, to the basics of getting started, lighting, equipment, links on where to buy props and more!